What better way to spend an hour on a blustery and off-and-on rainy Saturday than indoors at the cozy Elle Décor’s first ever San Francisco Showcase House?!
After meeting up with my co-workers Jaimie and Susan, we ventured inside in complete anticipation – hoping that the rooms would mimic the pages of a favorite magazine for me (I prefer the UK Edition).
We started off in Gary Spain’s Living Room where he paired botanic elements with rustic natural fabrics, knubby linens, burlap and boucles (like the creamy boucle on the Billy Haines pair of chairs) and stone elements like the chunky, over scaled chess set – which I thought was genius. The scale lent a playfulness to what I think people tend to think of as a serious game (on a side note…my father taught me how to play chess when I was YOUNG and it remains one of my favorites to this day…now searching for a chess set – let me know of any great sets I must be made aware of!).
Stephen Volpe always turns it up to a solid 10 – and with the Stilnovo chandelier (you had me at vintage Italian lighting, Stephen), massive Richard Misrach photograph and 1940s Paola Buffa lattice cabinet by I was sold. The beautiful table by Jules Wabbe (from his own gallery, Hedge) was a perfect cast of wood tones. detail of cabinet...swoon!
The Breakfast Room by Palmer Weiss was bright, charming and cheerful – three great adjectives that you want to incorporate into the overall mood and look of this room in my book! The chairs from Ironies looked amazing in a yellow patent leather with nailhead detail (I LOVE all the tessellated bone pieces Ironies is doing right now…as a matter of fact, I am on board for almost everything they are doing right now). I’m a huge fan of Phillip Jeffries wallpapers and I think she chose the perfect grasscloth color – not too yellow and not too muddy. And, who doesn’t love a Moroccan Beni Ourain rug ?! You can buy the same one shown here at William Sonoma….A+A = adorable and affordable = TLA!
detail of Saarinen stools in the Kitchen
Pulling out all the tricks is pretty common for these showcase homes and Erin Martin did just that with her Media Room. I thought it worked pretty well and the spider-esque chandelier ( I wish I knew where this was from/who it is by!!) is fab. I would never be able to live with it, but in this space it was super fun and worked well with all of her layering efforts of trades, materials, textures and styles.
pretty Laundry Room by Erin Martin
Moving upstairs was this stunner by Mooi Lighting – I am driving my husband crazy now with where and how can we put this in our house??!? Did you just say, “above your Dining Room table, Janel, duh.”? Funny, that is exactly what I thought too.
Grant Gibson’s “tween-centric” Bedroom featured a beautiful De Gournay (hand painted) wallpaper with funky, upholstered, zebra-print headboards and Billy Baldwin inspired cornice/curtains…
Suzanne Tucker’s Guest Bedroom and Bathroom were completely “done’….everything worked, everything matched, it all worked SO well together. For some, this “done” look can be a bit much while for me I am so Type A, that I can appreciate everything having its place and purpose. I loved the white lacquer dresser by Paul Laszlo (‘natch) and the color palette was beautiful. Suzanne Tucker used her own fabric (recently published in Paris this year) on the walls and I thought it was lovely.
She also brought in mineral elements to this room, which she used heavily in the Dining Room she did earlier this year for the San Francisco Showcase House…a detail that I personally adore.
balcony off of Guest Bedroom also by ST
Will Wick proved to be a master of taking a small space and making it seem MUCH larger and grand than the square footage would suggest. His Library was rich, comfortable and hip. I especially loved this Klismos chair by Joy Kennedy Collection.
Elizabeth Martin’s Guest Bedroom was simple and calm. I thought her custom designed (by herself) forged iron bed was fantastic. And the Curtis Jere table lamps were beyond amazing. I can’t get them out of my head.
My personal favorite room was Jay Jeffer’s Master Bedroom…it evoked the feeling of being wrapped up in a gray, cashmere throw, sipping a glass of bubbly, with a roaring fire going and Valley of the Dolls on the ’tube…. too much?
His walls were covered in a silver gray grasscloth, which came across as warm and comforting. The parchment cabinet by Samuel Marx was a showstopper – a creamy jewel of a piece. The silver travertine mantle (by Fox Marble) was perfectly modern without being TOO modern and brought in an interesting pattern. Loved the floor to ceiling headboard with sconces, bar cart, console and pair of club chairs by Franco Albini.
The unexpected pop of malachite green fabric on a pair of 30s Swedish stools was enough to being you back down to earth.
Fabulous job.
Soundtrack for this fun house of design? A favorite 50s homemaker of mine, Peggy Lee, of course!
ps - all photos by me
